A series defeat in South Africa that Team India will regret forever

Hello Guys,

Team India have failed yet again to breach the only unbeaten fortress for them i.e. South Africa.

Considering the recent form of Team India and the way they got victories in England and Australia, this defeat is huge.

Team India have beaten Australia twice in the last four years and are leading by 2-1 against England with one test yet to be played.

This was possibly the best chance Indian Team could have ever got to beat South Africa in South Africa in a test series which they have never done in the past.

South Africa is in a rebuilding phase with a lot of senior guys like Ab de Villiers, Dale Steyn, Faf Du Plessis and Hashim Amla retiring from the game in the recent past.

Quinton de Kock retired from test cricket right after the first game and Anrich Nortje getting injured right before the series.

Considering these facts and after the victory in first game Team India certainly were definitely considered as favorites to win this series.

So what led Indian Team down in this particular series??

Let’s have a look…

1. Constant Batting Failures

5 out of the 6 times, Team India failed to get a total of 300+

There were two good tons from KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant, but they didn’t get enough support from the other end.

The experienced trio of Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were not good enough throughout the series.

In form Shreyas Iyer didn’t get a single match while Hanuma Vihari got just a single opportunity.

2. Desperation from Bowlers

India’s bowlers looked quite desperate in the second innings of both second and third test in search of quick wickets.

It was quite evident that they were trying to produce magic balls rather than focusing on consistent line and lengths.

This allowed African batters to get away with easy boundaries every now and then and chase the total rather easily.

3. Getting carried away with emotions

Team India was quite vocal throughout the series. Emotional rush was way too much than it should have been.

One such incident came on the third day of third test when DRS saved Dean Elgar from getting out LBW against Ravichandran Ashwin.

Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Ravichandran Ashwin were quite aggressively showed their emotions which were clearly audible on the stump mic.

Such things always put your focus away from the game as technology can never be under someone’s control.

As Virat Kohli said victory in the first test was one big positive from this series.

Along with that youngsters like Rishabh Pant and Mohammad Siraj were really good on their first South African tour.

Team India should learn some important lessons from this defeat and should focus a lot on improvement specifically in the batting department.

What are your thoughts on Team India’s performance??

Do tell me in the comment box….

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